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Balancers of Souls
| headquarters = | leader(s) =Force-Marshal | senior member(s) =Marshal of the North Marshal of the East Marshal of the South Marshal of the West | other members =Interdiction Corps Detention Corps Execution Corps Observation Corps | affiliation = | purpose =Keeping the balance of souls amongst the worlds | tblColour =#FADA5E; ; | textColour =White }} The Balancers of Souls (護団四帝, Godanshitei; 4 Imperial Guard Regiments) is the former military arm of which was comprised of and Sōzōshin. It was replaced by the , , and, with the former taking over most of its previous duties. History Much of the history of the Balancers is unknown, though it is said that the organization was founded at the hands of the several thousand years ago, if not more. Despite being sworn to defend the balance of souls between the and , the Balancers were little more than hardened killers who brought chaos with them wherever they went, such that though the original Gotei 13 were thought of in much the same light, they were still considered an improvement over their predecessors. During their lifetime, the Balancers committed a string of atrocities that were initially tolerated but soon drew the ire of the and the resulting in conflict between the two parties. drew an end to the conflict with his newly founded Gotei 13 through a series of drawn out and chaotic battles across the Soul Society, the Human World, and even . In spite of the animosity they generated, they were still honoured after their destruction for upholding their duties if nothing else. A series of gravemarkers known as Yüshítou (隅石头, "Corner Stone") were placed across sites in the various worlds. Several prominent Shinigami had their beginnings amongst the ranks of the Balancers, such as who invented the that the Gotei used to defeat them. Duties The Balancers of Souls were the sole military force of Soul Society during their time, and, as such filled all of the roles that the three succeeding branches of military forces would perform. Alongside this they also had much more power and authority than their counterparts, though they operated under , they also accepted orders from the directly, who, at that time, was more active in the affairs of Soul Society. They had jurisdiction to operate in all of the known worlds, including and . While they defended the Human World from Hollow attacks and carried out the responsibility of ferrying souls to Soul Society, they took to policing those worlds by exterminating "undesirables" at their own discretion, this included s, , and their predecessors, the . Organization Structure The Balancers of Souls is made up of four branches, or brigades, that each operate under different specializations and authorities. The Balancers are led by the Force-Marshal (高大将, Kōtaisho; "High-General") who has the authority to conduct all of the affairs of the organization, though typically meetings were conducted with the highest officers of the four branches of the organization before making important decisions. Like its successors, in matters regarding Soul Society, the Balancers deferred to the judgement of Central 46 and the Soul King. As with any military force, the Balancers have a hierarchy of ranks applied to its membership. There are several general ranks that can apply to its troops regardless of their division, but many of them operate under specialized titles supplied by the branch they serve under. During its founding the organization operated on a seniority-based system but eventually changed to a merit-based one as the organization grew and deviated from its origins. Ranks *The Force-Marshal (高大将, Kōtaishō; "High General") is the supreme commander of the Balancers of Souls. The position requires the oversight of all operations performed by the Balancers across any and all spiritual realms and the Human World. The only powers the Force-Marshal answers to are Central 46 and the Soul King, though it is customary to put important decisions to a vote with the captains of each brigade. There have only been two known holders of this position, the first being among the original founders of the orginization and their successor, who claimed the seat after killing the former holder. :*The Marshals (大将, Taishō; "General") are one step below the Force-Marshal and the leaders of each of one of the four branches of the orginization. They are generally the most powerful members amongst the Balancers of Souls and were once afforded the highest level of respect from the citizens of the Rukongai and others. Each rank is considered to be unique by way of each being named after one of the cardinal directions (Marshal of the North, Marshal of the East, etc.). In this situation the Force-Marshal could be referred to as the Marshal of the Center. *The Colonels (中将, Chujō; "Lieutenant General"): Equivelant to the Shinigami Lieutenants, a Colonel serves as the executive officer for one of the four brigades under a Marshal. There can be up to two Colonels in each division, allowing for a total of eight at any one time, though it is more common for a Marshal to only appoint one individual as their Colonel. They are typically seen as the second strongest members of any part of the Balancers though they can be appointed for a variety of reasons of which martial prowess is only one. In the event that a Marshal is unavailable, the Colonel serves as the commanding officer until such a time that the Marshal returns or is replaced. *The Majors (准尉, Jun-i; "Warrant Officer"): Considered to be of equal seating as a 3rd seat officer in the Gotei 13, the Majors serve as specialist officers within the divisions, typically they lead a unit that fulfills a specialized purpose as dictated by the duties of their division. As a result they are typically the best at what they do in a particular field, as while the Marshals and Colonels oversee the overall duties of a brigade, the Majors handle all aspects of its more specific duties. *The Corporals (少尉, Shōi; "Ensign"): A "blanket rank" applied to the general membership amongst the Balancers of Souls. While it is officially the lowest rank a Balancer can have, each brigade is known to apply specialized ranks for its own purposes that typically supercedes this rank. Branches Notable Members Combat The Balancers of Souls fight using much of what would become the Zankensoki, though was not invented until after their collapse. *' ': Sword fighting techniques for the Jiūkǔndao and later Zanpakutō. The most basic fighting technique. *' ': An unarmed fighting technique that makes use of one's own body in a fight. *' ': The name for all high-speed fighting movements based on the art of Shunpo. *'Kadō' (力道, Energy Way): Also referred to as Magic (魔法, Mahō), it is the art of spellcasting used by the Balancers. Uniforms The uniform of the Balancers of Souls consists of a long-sleeved tunic with rolled back cuffs on the end. They have huling (護領, lit. "protect collar") sewn into the collars for protection. They adorn both belts and sashes together across the waist with either a double folded robe or half kilt hanging down from the waist. They also adorn a set of baggy trousers that are either worn over or tucked into a pair of hard-cuffed boots. On top of this uniform, members wear a , which later become the inspiration for the Shinigami Haori worn by Captains. Equipment Jiūkǔndao (阄捆刀, "Fate-Binding Sword"): As they predated its existence, the Shinigami that served the Balancers of Souls did not wield . Instead they wielded the blade known as Jiūkǔndao, which would serve as inspiration for the later weapon. While the forging process is unknown, the swords are somehow granted power that serves as a representation of its wielders fate when they were , in other words the event that ended their life before they entered Soul Society as souls. The power has no requirements for its manifestation naturally, and all Balancers are capable of unleashing the power of their respective Jiūkǔndao. As such, a basic Jiūkǔndao could be considered the equivelant of a constant release-type . Like Zanpakutō, these swords do have a release state known as Shìfàng (釋放, "Release"). This state is connected to the physical health of its wielder and can only be activated when they are in critical condition, making it rare that anyone ever sees a use of Shìfàng more than once. Yüshítou (隅石头, Corner Stone): Gravemarkers in the form of crudely shaped headstones engraved with the names of those supposedly buried underneath them. They are largely symbolic in nature, representing the casualties on both sides of the Balancer/Shinigami conflict. They were tampered with by Dan Tai Sin in order to penetrate the Muken within Soul Society's strongest prison. Over the course of thousands of years, the gravemarkers amassed spiritual energy before "drilling" into the Muken once they had become capable of breaching its defenses. In the process they would claim whoever's spiritual energy was used as its initial catalyst, which happened to be the Marshals of the order. Trivia *The ranking structure of the organization is partially based upon the . *Members of the organization are known as Balancers (霊任平衡, Reinin Heikō; "Those Responsible for the Balance"). Behind the Scenes Though the name of the organization, and its ranks, are rendered in Japanese, the theme decided for them is primarily Chinese as decided by the authors. This was done in part to differentiate them from their successors, but also to show that they were the preceeding organization by using a language that preceeded and helped developed Japanese. Latin was also considered. The uniform of the organization is based upon illustrated representations of -era military clothing with the addition of a Korean jeonbok. Category:Organizations